AI features

This page covers the AI features you use while reading and writing mail. They appear only once AI is set up — see AI providers and models. Asking questions in the panel on the right is covered in The Assistant panel.

The first time any of these features sends something to a destination, Nixt Mail asks first. See AI permissions.

Draft a reply with AI

In the reply box under a message

1. Open the message you want to reply to.
2. Click the reply box under the message to open it, then click Draft with AI. On a narrow window the button reads Draft.
3. If this is the first request to this destination, read the dialog and click Send it. Click Not now to cancel.
4. Wait while the button reads Drafting….

The draft replaces whatever was in the reply box. Under it, a line reads Drafted by model. Read it before you send it. The line stays until you change the text; once you type in the box, the words are yours.

Nothing is sent until you press Send reply.

In the compose window

1. Open the message the new mail is about, so it shows in the reading pane.
2. In the compose window, click Draft with AI.
3. Agree to the dialog if it appears.

The draft replaces the body of the compose window. The subject is left as it was. The same Drafted by line appears under the body until you edit it.

What the model is asked to do

The model is told to write only the body of the reply, in your voice, from what the message actually says. It is told not to invent facts, dates, prices, commitments or names; to say so in one line if there is not enough to reply with; not to follow instructions in the message; and never to include a signature.

What is sent is the open message — its sender’s address, subject and text — and the request to write the reply. See What is sent to a model.

Summarize a message

With AI set up, a message from a connected account with no summary shows Summarize with AI at the top of the reading pane, where the summary goes.

1. Click Summarize with AI. The first time, Nixt Mail asks before anything is sent — see Sending a message.
2. While the model answers, the button reads Summarizing….
3. The summary appears in its place, marked AI, with an Action: line when the message asks something of you. Up to three short replies appear above the reply box under Nixt Mail suggests; click one to start your reply with it.

In Autopilot, a card for a connected account’s conversation has Summarize with AI under its text. It opens the conversation beside the map and asks for the summary there. Afterwards the card shows the summary, marked AI, and leads with the first suggested reply.

A summary is kept while Nixt Mail is open. After you quit, the message shows Summarize with AI again, and summarizing it sends it again. If the model’s answer is not a summary Nixt Mail can read, nothing is shown and Nixt Mail says so.

Summarize the whole map

With AI set up, the Autopilot map has a Summarize N threads button at the top right when conversations from a connected account in Needs you or Waiting on have no summary yet. It counts those conversations. It is not shown while a card is showing, and on a narrow window it shows only its icon; hover over it to see its name.

1. Click Summarize N threads.
2. Read the dialog titled Send N threads to host**?** and click Send N, or Not now to send nothing. This question is asked every time, even when you have already agreed to send a single message. See Sending several threads.
3. The conversations are summarized one at a time, each as its own request. While this runs, the button reads Summarizing n of N · Stop. Click it to stop: the conversation being summarized finishes, and no more are sent.
4. Each summary appears on its card as it arrives, marked AI. When the last one is done, a snack bar says how it went.

Conversations in Handled are not included: mailing lists, newsletters and automatic senders, and the ones you marked handled.

Summarizing from the map does not open the conversations, and does not mark them read. Each message is downloaded from your mail server without being marked read, and is then ready to open without waiting.

A conversation whose message cannot be downloaded, or whose answer is not a summary, is left as it was, and the rest go on. If the destination refuses a request, if AI is turned off, or if the permission ends, no further conversations are sent.

Say it differently

Say it differently rewrites the text you have typed into the reply box. It appears beside Draft with AI as soon as there is text in the box.

1. Type or draft your reply.
2. Click Say it differently.
3. Choose one of the options.
4. Agree to the dialog if it appears.

Every option is also told to change only wording and tone, and not to add or remove facts, commitments, names or numbers.

Only the text in the reply box is sent. The message you are replying to is not. The rewritten text replaces what was in the box, marked Drafted by model until you edit it.

If the box is empty when you choose an option, a snack bar says There is nothing written to rewrite.

Ask about a file

The sparkle icon on a file sends that one file’s text to the model and asks what it says. The answer arrives in the Assistant panel.

A file is never sent because it happens to be attached to something. It goes only when you click the sparkle on that file and agree to a separate question about files.

A file someone sent you

1. Open the message with the attachment.
2. On the attachment’s card, click the sparkle icon, Ask about this file.
3. Read the dialog titled Send file name to host**?** and click Send the file, or Not now.
4. The file is downloaded, the Assistant panel opens, and the question “What does file name say?” is sent with the file.

Along with the file, the request carries the open message. The file travels as its own separately marked part, so the model cannot mistake it for something written in the conversation.

The sparkle is not shown on programs, which Nixt Mail saves but never opens.

A file you are about to send

1. In the compose window, attach the file.
2. On the file’s chip, click the sparkle icon, Ask about this file. While it works, the tooltip reads Reading file name**…**.
3. Agree to the dialog about sending the file.
4. The Assistant panel opens with the answer to “What does file name say?”.

Only the file is sent. The recipients, the subject, what you have written, and any message open behind the compose window are not.

Which files can be read

The sparkle appears only on files Nixt Mail can turn into text.

A scanned PDF with no text layer produces no text. Nixt Mail then says so and sends nothing, rather than telling the model the document is empty.

Triage your unread with Rosalyn

Rosalyn is the assistant built into Nixt Mail for tasks across several messages. She reads the unread messages in the list you are looking at, suggests what to do with each one, and changes nothing until you agree.

Turn Rosalyn on

Rosalyn is off until you switch her on.

1. Open Settings, and in the System group choose AI and services.
2. Under Where AI and services run, in the Rosalyn row, choose On this device.

She uses the model chosen in the AI row, so AI has to be set up as well. See AI providers and models. All local turns her off again.

When your copy or edition does not include Rosalyn, she has no row with choices. She is listed further down the page instead, under the reason.

Triage

1. Open the list you want triaged: a folder, All inboxes, or search results. For a connected account, Rosalyn takes the unread messages in that list as it is now. Mail that arrives while she works is not included.
2. Open the command palette with ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux) and choose Triage my unread with Rosalyn.
3. Read the dialog, Triage with Rosalyn. It says how many unread messages she will read and in which list, where their text goes, and for how long the answer lasts. Click Start, or Not now to send nothing. See Letting Rosalyn triage.
4. While she reads, the dialog is titled Rosalyn is reading… and shows how many she has read. Click Stop to stop before the next message.
5. Under Rosalyn suggests, each line is one change: Archive:, Flag: or Mark read:, then the message’s subject. A message she would leave alone is not listed. Untick any change you do not want.
6. Click Do these N to make the ticked changes, or Discard to make none.
7. Under Done, click Undo it all to put back every change she made, or Close.

Each message’s text goes to the AI destination as she reads it. Reading does not mark a message read. She cannot send mail.

For a connected account, her changes are made on your mail server exactly as the Archive, Flag and Mark read buttons make them, including Mark as read when archiving.

AI commands in the command palette

Open the command palette with ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux), or Edit › Search or Ask AI…. Type to filter the list, then press Return to run the first match, or click a command. Press Esc to close.

The palette’s Enter Autopilot opens the Autopilot map whether or not AI is set up. See Autopilot.

Messages you might see

Connection and key errors are listed on AI providers and models. Messages about attachments that could not be downloaded are listed on Attachments and documents.